Tourist Season
by Ki Ken Tai Ichi
Summary: Emil hasn't looked forward to the tourist season since he was a kid. Who wants an island full of loud, annoying strangers? At least they never stay long. But there is one visitor, Leon, who may just be worth getting to know in the short time they have together. HongIce. Human AU.


**A/N**: I wrote this way back in 2014 for DeviantArt (hopefully that doesn't show too much)

It was also my first romance fanfic (hopefully **that** doesn't show too much either)

* * *

Emil watched the boats come into the harbor with a disdainful curl of his lip. While he would have given nearly anything for tourists years ago, now he would pay whatever price to keep them away. Their flashing cameras and gawking stares. Their loud screams and blatant disrespect for the wildlife. It made him physically ill.

He got to his feet and made his way down the rocky hill with the swift nimbleness of a mountain goat. Once his booted feet touched the leveled earth, Emil straightened his sweater and headed for his family shop. With the surge of tourists coming in, his parents would need his help to watch the curios shop –a small extension of their restaurant that was only open in the summer months.

Their shop was on the edge of the city, close to the docks, so by the time Emil arrived the tiny space was already crowded with shouting tourists. He heard a few mention his lopapeysa and he could see the flash of their cameras on the ground in front of him. Emil used to grin and bear the attention, but it only attracted more –like flies to dung. So now Emil tried his best to keep his head down and refrain from speaking.

Emil unlocked the shop door and rotated the sign so that it read "open". He barely had time to get away from the door before it was flung open by the more enthusiastic tourists. Emil retreated to behind the counter and frantically tried to ring up all the items shoved into his face while answering questions spoken in a multitude of dialects and languages.

Emil collapsed onto the stool behind the counter when there was only one family left in the shop. They were of a tan skin color and had eyes that hinted of Asian descent, but Emil was not familiar enough to recognize from where in Asia the family came. The wife was chattering to the husband about the woolen hats. She was speaking in her own language, so Emil had no trouble tuning her out and daydreaming about the hike he planned on taking after his shift.

"Well, someone who actually looks as bored as me." A voice said in a way that Emil knew a smirk came with it.

Emil looked down from the ceiling rafters and saw a boy about his age with dark brown hair and the same face as his parents. _Wonderful, they dragged a kid here with them_, Emil thought.

"Hey, this is the capital right?" The boy asked. He sounded like he already knew but was just making conversation.

"Yeah," Emil replied. He didn't bother saying the name of the city, Reykjavik, because whenever he did tourists either tried to mimic him –poorly- or asked him to repeat it like a parrot.

"I thought so. So what do you do here for fun?" He continued.

Emil shrugged, as if he could brush the boy away with the motion. "I don't know. Ask the visitor center. There should be one near the docks where you came in."

"No, not that nature and wildlife stuff. I mean, what's in the city. Like bars and clubs."

Emil shrugged again. "Don't know. I don't really do that stuff."

"You don't?" The boy said. Just then Emil almost thought he saw what could only be described as a wicked gleam in the boy's brown eyes. As if the boy were grinning with his eyes –an action that immediately drew Emil's full attention.

Only for the boy's parents to leave the shop –having decided not to buy anything. They called out to the boy in their native language. He glanced back at them, almost frantically, and turned back to Emil. Once again the grinning eyes were fixed on Emil and he could feel his heart stutter at the sight.

"See ya later." The boy said, turning away after the stare. He waved good-bye as he pushed the door open and Emil surprised himself by waving back.

* * *

Five hours later –quiet save for the slight trickle of tourists wandering in and out- Emil flipped the door sign around. Finally. Closed.

Someone slammed into the plexi-glass door. Emil jumped back, shouting as he fell back onto his butt. Pressed up again the glass was the Asian boy from before. His fingers and nose smudged the glass and his breath fogged the surface with every exhale. It seemed as though he'd been running.

"Guy!" The boy shouted and began rapping on the glass with the knuckles of his right fist. "Open up!"

Emil shakily got to his feet and stepped to the door, only to freeze with his hand in midair. Why was he reopening the store for a tourist? All he had to do was turn around and enter his house from the back door of the shop. In minutes he could be on the couch eating licorice and watching a movie, not dealing with a zealous tourist…who was staring at him with such lively eyes.

Against his logic, Emil unlocked and opened the door. The boy nearly burst into the room and fixed Emil with a smirk of his mouth matched with an even wryer smirk in the eyes.

"I'm Leon." The boy said extending his hand to shake.

Emil stood still, taking in the sudden introduction, and finally grasped the boy's hand. As Emil gave his own name, he was startled by the tingling in his fingers. Even after their hands were separated he could still feel the tingle –perhaps even stronger than before.

"Anyway, I thought it would be beneficial to know each other's names before we go." Leon said, heading towards the door he'd so recently barged through.

"Go where?" Emil asked, struggling to take in the tingling of his fingers and the grinning eyes and the –apparent- journey.

"To that club on…what was it… oh never mind the name. I remember how to get there." Leon said, tapping the side of his head knowingly.

"A club?" Emil asked. "I don't go to clubs."

"You do tonight."

Emil stepped back, towards the door that lead to his house, and away from Leon and his lively personality.

"Come on Emil. I'm only here for the week. I need someone to go with. Please come with me." As he was talking, Leon had launched himself onto Emil and grabbed his shoulders. He held onto Emil, preventing him from retreating, and stared the Iceland native down. Violet eyes met brown and as much as Emil tried to look away, he couldn't. He didn't want to.

"Fine." He relented. He was relieved –and disappointed- when Leon released his shoulders and stepped back.

"Great, now go put something better on. We're leaving in five minutes."

* * *

An hour after leaving the shop with Leon, Emil found himself in a crowded underground club with sharpie writing on his hand and numerous people pressed up against him from all angles.

One of which was Leon.

"I didn't know so many people lived on this entire island, let alone this city." Leon laughed. Emil could feel his breath on his cheek, which had been blushing since he'd entered. Though Leon didn't even notice.

"This doesn't bother you?" Emil asked, grimacing as a person behind him inadvertently spilled a drink onto his jacket.

"This is nothing. I'm from Hong Kong. I'm used to **real **crowds."

Emil didn't even want to know what a real crowd would be. Just then a person from behind –likely the same one who had spilled their drink- elbowed Emil in the back. Emil was pushed forward and into Leon. Their foreheads hit and by the time they pulled apart, the forces of the crowd left even less room between the two.

"There isn't even enough room to move, let alone dance." Emil huffed.

"Clubs aren't meant for dancing." Leon grinned. "They're meant for drinking and taking advantage of the close quarters." Just then a person behind Leon pushed him into Emil. Hardly any room was left between the two and Leon only kept smiling.

"Though it's hard to enjoy anything with these elbows." Leon added. Most of the beer in his glass had been spilled when he had been pushed, luckily it landed on the floor and not on Emil. Leon drained what was left of his beer and set the glass on the nearest table. Leon stared at Emil for nearly a minute –keeping his thoughts silent for the moment.

"Hey Emil." Leon said, touching his arm to get his attention. "Let's get out of here."

Though the suggestion was sudden, Emil gladly left the club and practically skipped through the streets once free of the crowd. He saw Leon smile, but Emil didn't care in the slightest. Now that he could breathe and move and hear, Emil didn't care how silly he looked.

"It's still pretty early. What do you want to do?" Leon asked, head cocked to the side as he watched Emil.

Emil looked from the darkening sky to Leon. "We can see the lights." Emil smiled at his words. No matter how many times he saw them shimmering across the sky, he could never think them any less beautiful.

"Lights? You mean those Northern Lights? Can we really see them?" Leon asked. "I mean, I know you guys have the lights here, but…"

"But what?"

Leon shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought something so surreal was too impossible to genuinely exist."

Emil was momentarily surprised by the near artistic wording of Leon's surprise and nodded. "Yeah, they exist. In fact, let me show you the best place." Emil stepped past Leon, heading for the hills outside the city.

* * *

After nearly an hour of hiking –after the initial twenty minutes it took to leave the city- Leon seemed ready to collapse to the rocky ground. Luckily, they had just made it to Emil's destination. Emil lied on the rocky ground and his entire body tensed when Leon lied beside him, their hips and shoulders less than a paper width apart.

"So how long until-"

"Sh," Emil couldn't help but command. "It's better when it's quiet."

A breeze flew by and Leon shuddered. He moved even closer to Emil until he was nearly on top of the Icelander. Emil wondered if Leon could feel his thunderous heartbeat. Leon's brown hair brushed across Emil's blushing cheek and Emil's stomach was swirling like a whirlpool despite his rock like stillness. A few more minutes passed and the sky remained obstinately dark.

Then the black sky exploded into a wavy sea of greens. From a pale yellow green to a deep emerald to a turquoise: the sky was now an ocean. The colors swayed like the reflection of water on a pool bottom. Emil heard Leon gasp, and he could feel him tense in shock. And Emil was even surprised when the edges of the green shifted in hue until it was pink! Emil grinned from ear to ear as the new color grew tentatively –like a weak flame- until it roared to life. The new color took center stage and the sky lit up in pinks and purples and violets and reds. Emil couldn't stop smiling.

He sensed movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Leon turning away from the spectacular show above to him. Why wasn't he beholding the unearthly beauty overhead? For God's sake there was pink! Those colors were rare and far between! He was only here for a week and he was wasting a perfect viewing of the Northern Lights!

He was getting closer to his face.

Emil registered Leon's approaching face, but he didn't move. Though moving away seemed like the only sensible thing, Emil was captivated by the one thing livelier than the dancing lights –Leon's eyes.

And when their lips touched Emil realized the existence of something better than the lights and Leon's eyes combined. Though Emil's stomach still swirled around and his heart raced and his fingers tingled –they were wondrous sensations that amplified the electricity running up and down his spine and the soft warmth of Leon's lips.

Leon seemed to know Emil's limit, because he kept the kiss short and simple. He pulled his face away but close enough for their noses to nearly touch. Emil entire body was buzzing with energy, and he wanted Leon to kiss him again… and to be even closer than that.

"I leave in a week." Leon whispered, as if he suspected what Emil was thinking.

Emil knew this. The Northern Lights come and go. They were a passing beauty, but their limited presence was what made them so magnificent. Things that didn't last were always the best.

"Then we'd best make the most of it." Emil surprised himself by replying.

"Yeah, and we can end every day up here." Leon seemed excited.

Emil smiled softly. "Just promise to keep this place a secret. I don't want everyone coming here."

To which Leon smirked. "Don't worry. I keep all my favorite things to myself."


End file.
